EMERALD CITY COMICON ‘08 - AN OVERVIEW

The Emerald City ComiCon is a 2-day long Seattle-wide comics convention hosted in the Washington State Trade and Convention Center. The convention, like Sakuracon, centers around merchandise booths, artists booths, and seminars. However, at ECC, cosplay/costuming makes a very limited appearance, animation is not shown, and there are no concerts or other massive events. ECC is a much smaller festival, with much less hype, and much cheaper (depending on how you spend your money) than Sakuracon. While this all so, the ECC is a convention that has much to offer in the areas outside of Japanese manga/anime, especially in the realms of superhero, sci-fi, alternative, and avant-garde comics from the States.

We at BrokenAnime wish that this following overview will offer you an accurate insight into the ECC, and hopefully encourage you to attend if haven’t in the past, and perhaps expand your horizons into the many facets of American comics. This overview will cover the basic descriptions of the ECC, then will review the great aspects as well as what we’d like to see in the future from the ECC.

If you don’t like reading too much, you can skip down to the bottom of the text sections and read “TO SUM IT ALL UP” instead.

Hellboy in a typical ECC booth

THE LOCATION

The ECC ‘08 took place entirely on the fourth floor of the Washington State Trade and Convention Center, located on 800 Convention Place, close to 7th and Pike in Seattle. From my personal experiences with the metro system in the city, especially as a UW student with a free metro pass, the metro is a convenient way to travel down there without worrying about parking (you really should check the weekend schedules for the buses, though). The Convention Center is also home to Sakuracon, which usually takes up all floors unlike the ECC. The main part of the ECC, which merchandise/artists’ area, is in what is the Exhibitor’s hall (merchandise area) for Sakuracon. Unlike Sakuracon, which uses only about half of the space there in the huge gym-like area (which is actually really large), the ECC exhibitors’ area takes up the entire space, which the NW corner devoted to individual artists’ booths. There is also some space on the east wall near the “deli” where some tables are located for food and rest. To the West, on the same floor are panels A and B, where the seminars take place, and a Celebrity Photo Op area as well as a Talent Search Area. Registration took place to the right, outside of the exhibitors’ hall entrance. You don’t have to worry about a long 2 hour wait line, nor minors’ permission issues.

THE TIME

The ECC ‘08 took place over two days, May 10-11, Saturday from 10am-6pm, and Sunday from 10am-5pm. You may think that such hours, when compared to that of many anime conventions, are very short. This is partially true, but if you don’t know all that much about silver age, new sci-fi, or underground American comics, you’ll find that time flies very slowly at the ECC. My friends an I went to the ECC only for Saturday, from about 10am to 3pm, but midway through that time, we were already getting a bit bored and tired. If you are very knowledgeable about the aforementioned type of comics, you will find that time is definitely a curse as you flip through the many 50 cent piles of oldschool comics, searching for the ones you want. I recommend, especially for more anime-oriented individuals, to say for no more than 4 hours - visit one or two panels, cruise around the merchandise area, spend some time with the artists - talk to them and admire their work.

Panels are one hour long, and run in both panels A and B for both days nearly all of the time slots. The exhibitors’ area is open for as long as the convention is open. If you wish to catch some of the important guests, though, you’ll be hard-pressed to find them. Ever.

The Penny-Arcade guys, at their booth, sellin’ and signin’

THE WHO

So who’s gonna be there? Expect many, many males in their late 20’s or early 30’s, with stable white-collar jobs with cash to spend. Don’t expect many costumers at all - there’ll be a few, including some startroopers, game characters, and a big rabbit from Donny Darko. If you’ve ever been to Sakuracon, expect about the same population density per square yard there as in the exhibitors’ hall at the ECC.

As for important guests, a bunch of media stars from TV shows like “Who Wants to be a Superhero?” including Jarrett Crippen, Nell Wilson, and Trisha Paytas were there (yea I don’t really know them either). Jamie Bamber from “Battlestar Galactica” was there, for all ya ladies out there. Oh yes, the creator the of “The Oblongs” was there too. As usual, the Penny-Arcade guys were there. If you’re into the more alternative, interpersonal type of comics like I am, Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference and Good as Lily) was there (a very nice individual, I must say). Really, I encourage you to walk around the artist’s area a lot: talk to the guys and gals there - they love promoting their work and talking to current or future fans. Get some autographs and free stuff.

Plenty of thin-issue comics about your favorite Marvel and DC heroes. Don’t expect much manga/anime at all.

THE TO-DO LIST

Being very ignorant of superhero comics, I honestly didn’t know what to do for a majority of the the time, so I wandered around a lot. Leaving that aside though, if you are interested in trying out the industry, hearing about the progress of certain comics producers, or just comicking in general, I recommend at least checking out the 24 or so panels/seminars they have over the two days. The one I attended was called “What it Takes to Make it in Comics”, which was an informational and helpful session where two industry speakers talked about cooperation between artists and writers, intellectual property, and staying independent. During these sessions, the speakers almost always encourage questions to be asked.

In the exhibitors’ hall, you can do several things. One, you can “window shop” by roaming around the vendors’ booth, peeking into stacks of cheap (25 or 50 cent (!)) old comics, looking at slightly expensive action figurines, etc. Second, you can visit the artists, like I mentioned before. They always put out some of their old work, while sitting around, drawing, waiting for curious people like you to drop by and talk. Third, you can interact and talk: go test out some new WACOM technology, sign up for freebies and raffles, talk to the vendors, find people you know, etc. Lastly, you can just suck in the feel of the environment and time - this is another way of enjoying a once-a-year experience. I do all of these when I go to cons - try to enjoy it as best as you can (they only come around every so often).

Some cautionary DO NOTS:

• DO NOT forget to bring at least 40 dollars. This is for the entrance fee (around 20 dollars), a book you may want to get (~10 to 15), food (~5 to 10), and perhaps a trinket or poster (~5 to 15). Many people find themselves wanting to buy more, but not having money, so they go to the few ATMs around. Bad idea - everyone else wants some scrilla too.
• DO NOT spend too much time window shopping. Though it can be fun, and undemanding, it still does not compare to the time you could be listening to some informational seminars. Visit at least one. Budget your time well. Don’t forget to eat, meet your buddies, get some sketches, and plan for a ride home.
• DO NOT bring too many friends along. Why? Not because friends are bad or annoying, no, but rather they usually want to do other things than you do, but are too polite to say otherwise and so a lot of the time is spent doing something that no one really wants, or doing nothing at all, deciding what to do next. Large groups when together are hard to keep everyone in sight. Large groups, when split up, have a hard time, even with cells, to communicate properly.
• DO NOT expect to find exactly what you want. Doing so may actually waste your time, leading to frustration. A lot of the times, awesome stuff pops up quite randomly.

What you really want…

THE GOODS

Now we’re talkin’. It’s not the memories only that you bring home from the con - it’s the goods. Above is a picture of what I brought back, both stuff I paid for, and stuff I got for free. Many small posters and handouts are free - you can get more stuff in the “swag line” but it’s a long line.

What mostly is on sale are those very cheap, small issues of oldschool comics, newer Marvel and DC comics, and action figurines. T-shirts, large posters, dvds, costumes, trinkets, and other paraphernalia
seen everywhere at Sakuracon is not so abundant here at the ECC. Look for stuff that you like from certain authors or series of superheros - but don’t look too hard. It’s more fun to window shop anyhow, for some time, and to get a silly or cool sketch from an artist (~10$). I got one of Ironman, but like, with me in the suit (haha!).

Several of my friends got a bunch of freebies from the swag line (a WHOLE LOT of posters). Another friend manages to snag a medium sized Trigun figure (they do have a few booths that sell anime figures, don’t expect too much though). Another friend found some oldschool Japanese comics from one of those 50 cent boxes. I didn’t expect any Japanese comics to be in those, but hey, nice surprise. There’s only one booth that sold Japanese manga/anime artbooks, probably the same vendor as that one in Sakuracon, but frankly, you could just visit Kinokuniya if you wanted those.

Don’t expect too many fantastic deals like “50 % off graphic novels” or “buy 3 get one free” stuff. That did happen occasionally, but definitely not as widespread as the Christmas cheer of Sakuracon. Again, though, those 50 cent boxes are very tempting…

Bungie artist with a sketch of me as Ironman

TO SUM IT ALL UP

The ECC ‘08 was an event that I wasn’t all too excited to go to (I still wanted to go, just not fanatically) and was equally not that exciting to remember afterwards. As an anime fan that also highly favors underground and more interpersonal stories found in some American graphic novels, I didn’t really know what to do or look for after a few hours. I was almost sad that I couldn’t spend all my cash on stuff there.

All in all, the ECC is an event that caters mostly to those who love superhero and sci-fi American comics. The merchandise, artists, and seminars focus almost entirely on those, not on the flashy hype of the Anime Kingdom. You’ll find some great art, new talent, and perhaps some good deals on some comics there, but in the end, the convention is really worth what you pay for. I’d encourage all to go, but leave before you start wondering what you should do next to avoid boredom.

Some expensive stuff!

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